Uganda to match health research to local needs

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Uganda's largest university will begin a two-year study this month (January) of how to improve health research and health service delivery in the country.

The two-year needs assessment will define how to align Makerere University's activities with the goals and needs of the country's health system, and devise teaching and research strategies for the university.

It intends to improve the capacity of the university not only to produce enough doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, but to ensure they best serve the illness profile of a developing country, said Nelson Sewankambo, principal of the university's College of Health Sciences.

If successful, the project — a collaboration with the Centre for Global Health at the John Hopkins University in the United States — will lay the foundations for a further 10-year collaboration to build up the university's capacity.